16: First Cow (2019)

As usual, complete spoilers for the film in this discussion.

Imagine frontier life in the early days of the Oregon Territory, not a cow in sight and thus not a drop of milk to put in your bread. Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow centers on an unlikely duo aiming to solve this issue: Cookie, an aspiring baker sick of cooking for ungrateful fur trappers, and King-Lu, an entrepreneur from China who maybe(?) killed someone and is on the run from Russians. Together they devise a heist, plotting to steal milk from the only cow in town and building an empire of irresistible oily cakes.

A slow burn of a film that’s light on plot and heavy on feelings, First Cow is at its best when the dynamic between Cookie and King-Lu is front and center. The ambiguous nature of their relationship and the tension present between them prods the audience to speculate whether they’re just really good friends, or wanting something more. But what’s not ambiguous is Reichardt’s ideals about masculinity - perhaps we could all do with a bit more cottagecore.

Motion Picture Pals is co-hosted by Cam Call, Rebekah Markillie, Joel Aleman, and producer Travis Lien.

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